In strapping machines for automatically wrapping palletized loads with a nylon strap, a problem occurs when the coiled feed strap is fed through a guide in a non-horizontal direction. The coiled strap may be shredded or otherwise damaged as it engages a cam lock in exiting from the frame or in entering a recoil box but more especially in the wrapping head.
The prior art has failed to develop a solution although machines for strapping loads and particularly palletized loads have been around for years. Previously, an out of line strap would exit from the guide frame into a recoil container and then be fed outwardly to wrap about a palletized load. The out of line strap would be damaged in the head during the wrapping operation so that the strap might be improperly wrapped about a load or the strap shredded causing shut down of the machine and the entire production line.
To solve these problems, applicant has developed a new and improved feed guide which directs the coiled feed strap onto a flat exit frame regardless of the input feed angle. This design is new and no prior art machines have proposed a similar unique design.